The term “thermoelectric element” or “Peltier heat pump” is often used interchangeably in the field for the term “Peltier element”. The term “Peltier element” shall be understood within the scope of the present description and claims as a thermoelectric component which consists in its inner structure of one or several thermoelectric elements. The thermoelectric elements are especially based on the Peltier effect, but they can also be based on another thermoelectric effect such as the principle known as thermo tunnelling.
Peltier elements consist of two metals or two semiconductors which are in contact with each other and are usually known as thermo pairs. When electric direct current flows through a Peltier element, the one metal or the one semiconductor heats up, whereas the other metal or other semiconductor will cool off. A Peltier element therefore works as a current-operated heat pump which conveys heat by means of an electric current from the one surface of the Peltier element to the opposite surface of the Peltier element, or vice versa, i.e. it cools the one surface while simultaneously heating the other surface.
A heating and cooling installation for a building with several rooms is known from DE 1817077. The installation comprises a central heating device and Peltier heat pumps arranged in the rooms. The Peltier heat pumps are connected to the central heating device via a heat transfer circuit. The central heating device supplies the main proportion of the heating or cooling power, whereas the Peltier heat pumps are used for fine adjustment of the temperature in the individual rooms.